Treating the whole person

When Dr. Brian Barber opened Amazing Grace Family Medicine in Perry Township in February, the vision for what he wanted his practice to stand for was clear.

“Amazing Grace Family Medicine is a different kind of medical practice,” he said. “We are a faith-based, Christian medical office dedicated to treating the whole person, from the physical, emotional and spiritual standpoint. Traditional and alternative medical care is provided in our comfortable office using an integrative approach to your health. We provide cost-effective, personalized services that are simply not available at other primary care medical offices.”

Having worked for a large hospital network in the past, Barber said he felt there had to be a better model.

“If you’re seeing 30 patients a day and you have 10, 15 minutes with each patient,” he said, “it’s hard to go into – I see you’re blood pressure is out of control, lets talk about what you eat. How much exercise do you do? Have you seen a personal trainer? Let’s talk about your daily routine. Let’s make sure you’re potassium and sodium is fine. You can’t treat a whole person in 10 minutes because you can’t get to know a whole person in 10 minutes.”

Barber spends an hour with new patients, and typically half an hour for follow-ups. Clients pay $100 a month and receive unlimited visits with labs included.

“I like to explain it to patients that it’s like a health club,” he said. “You pay $100 a month. You come in when you want to. You have services available to you a la carte. We can get you a chiropractor. We do dry needle acupuncture. We have a weight loss program called Control, where you pay for 16 weeks and at the end of the period if you’re the person who lost the most, you get cash… I don’t bill your insurance. We’re not a rich man’s healthcare system. We’re geared toward that $50 – 70,000 household income range, towards those middle income families that have high deductible healthcare plans and an HSA card.”

Barber said direct primary care is a growing trade, with a 25 percent increase in these businesses opening in the past year.

“The message we want to get across is it’s affordable,” he said. “The holistic approach to healthcare, integrated medicine, the affordability and extended time period with the doctor is all part of the philosophy.”

Why did you open this business?

I wanted to provide a faith-based alternative to the insurance-driven, 10-minute visit “rat race” that has become healthcare.

What did you do to prepare for opening your business?

I did research to determine the demographics of patients I would be serving, I read marketing studies that looked at how many physicians were available to the population, and I looked for a practice in close proximity to our church.

Who is your ideal customer/client?

A family with a high-deductible health plan who values their faith, or someone who wants to be treated as a whole person and not just receive the “10-minute and out the door.”

How do you plan to be successful?

By reaching out to individuals and employers to offer low-cost, quality healthcare and use social media and word-of-mouth to spread the word.

What would we be surprised to learn about you or your company?

We offer alternative treatments such as acupuncture/dry needling, personal training, and Christian counseling to help treat the whole person.